Anti-Bullying Policy

The school treats bullying very seriously. Here are the details regarding our anti-bullying policy.

Bullying can seriously impair a child's development and we will seek to deal quickly and effectively with any incidents of bullying if they arise.

Bullying can take place in the classroom and in the playground. Whilst all schools will have experienced bullying incidents, we are determined not to allow bullying to take place at our school. We encourage children to report to any adult if they feel they are being bullied. The school staff are aware that any possibility of bullying must be investigated.

Bullying can take place in different ways Children may use bullying techniques which include:-
i. Physical assault directed at a child over a period of time
ii. Verbal abuse directed at a child over a period of time
iii. Deliberate organised shunning of a child by a group or groups of children over a period of time.
iv. Bullying taking place outside school, but this could still affect a child during the school day.

Adults may employ bullying techniques which include:-
i. Deliberately targeting a child and regularly threatening, harassing or humiliating him/her over a period of time.
ii. Deliberately harassing and/or condemning the work/actions of another colleague on a regular basis over a period of time.
iii. Deliberate organised shunning of another colleague by a group/groups of staff.

1. Any complaint from a child will be listened to and recorded. The complaint will then be investigated as soon as possible in the first instance by the child's class teacher. The headteacher will be informed of the investigation and may become involved.

2. Any report from a member of staff or parent about suspected bullying will be recorded in the behaviour book. School staff will be alerted to observe the suspected child or children and give feedback to the headteacher if necessary.

3. If a child is found to be being bullied, all the school staff will be made aware of this and careful observations will be made to ensure that the bullying does not continue. The class teacher and/or headteacher will arrange a meeting with the child's parents to discuss the bullying and set out ways forward to overcome the problem. If necessary the child will be allocated an adult 'confidant' to whom the child can talk to if any difficulties arise. This could be any member of the school staff depending on the child's needs.

Procedure if a child is found to be bullying another child/children.

If a child is found to be bullying, he/she will be seen by the headteacher and warned that the bullying must stop immediately otherwise serious consequences will be applied. The school staff will be informed and will observe the child closely for a period of at least four weeks. The child will be put on daily written report and the child's parents will be contacted informing them of the bullying. At this point it will be considered if the child's needs require him/her to receive provision under the school's Special Educational Needs policy. In any event, strategies will be deployed to curb the bullying tendencies. A weekly report will be sent to parents for a period of four weeks.
If the child persists in the bullying activities, the parents will be called to a meeting and the headteacher will inform them that any further incidents will result in exclusion from the school. The parents will also be informed by letter. (see exclusions policy)

The issues relating to bullying will form an integral part of the school's PSHCE activities. These issues will be discussed regularly in each class and more frequently if the situation requires it. School assemblies will also be used to reinforce the anti-bullying policy. The anti-bullying policy will be carefully monitored and discussed by staff at least once per year. The policy will be reviewed by governors every two years or earlier if the need arises. (Next review Spring 2008)

Suspected bullying by school staff or other adults.

If an adult is suspected of or uses bullying techniques, this should be immediately reported to the headteacher who will undertake an investigation.

If the headteacher is involved you can write directly to the Chairman of Governors whose address appears in the school prospectus.

It may be necessary to invoke the disciplinary procedures as laid down in the school staffs' conditions of service.

The schools complaints procedure can be used if you wish to take the matter further.